The Umbrella

Will President Eisenhower take the stump in the critical House and Senate election campaigns next year? The question, as it was popped early in the President's press conference last week, was charged with Washington's sensitivity to the new political currents. Ike's answer was imprecise in detail, but it wrapped up clearly, nonetheless, his own deep personal feelings about the presidency.

Said the President: he is deeply interested in what happens to the complexion of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. At the same time, he does not intend to make of the presidency an agency to use in partisan politics. He has the conception that, although elected by only part of the population, anyone occupying the office is President of all the people. The Chief Executive has the responsibility of attempting to develop a program for the benefit of all the people. His success in framing such a program depends on the caliber of his associates from his own party, of course, and conversely those associates must depend on that program in their personal campaigns--not on hoped-for presidential endorsements. The program is a real umbrella under which to operate. He did not intend, Ike continued, to get into partisan struggles on the local level, because, were he in the position of the voter, he would resent that kind of intrusion from the President of the United States.

When the President's remarks were released in the press, they sent a cold shiver through the hearts of scores of politicos who had hoped the President would do their big vote-getting for them in 1954. Next day G.O.P. National Chairman Leonard Hall hustled over to the White House to get a first-hand interpretation from the Chief.

After a quick (eight minutes) conference, Hall emerged smiling. "There was nothing new there," he said. "I don't think anyone expected him to campaign in all 435 congressional districts ... I would think that it is his role as President to tell the people what has been accomplished." Next year, Hall indicated, Ike would get around the country plenty, spreading the gospel of his Administration. But he would not do any campaigning for individual Congressmen.

Last week the President: P: Performed a painful (for him) presidential duty: accompanied his wife to the opening concert of the National Symphony Orchestra. Ike's musical tastes are simple. He shares Harry Truman's fondness for piano music, and likes to listen to authentic hillbilly ballads, but, like many another American male, he has almost no interest in symphonic music. P: Despite an increasing sensitivity to public criticism of his golfing, played his first round of golf in five weeks--on the order of his doctor, who felt that Ike was not getting enough exercise. P: Spent the weekend at his Catoctin Mountain retreat, Camp David. after a leisurely drive through the autumn-decked countryside of Virginia and Maryland.

*Once, when he was president of Columbia University, Ike escaped from a chamber musicale during an intermission, and hid out in the men's room until the lights went up at the end of the concert.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.